Judicial Panel members, USG candidate in same fraternity

While the fundraising strategy of Stephen Post and Lauren Todd’s Undergraduate Student Government presidential campaign has come under scrutiny, it has yet to be declared in violation of the election bylaws. Should the issue be brought before USG’s judicial panel, however, the presidential candidate will find himself in familiar company — five of his fraternity brothers serve on the panel.

USG presidential candidate Stephen Post, a third-year in economics and political science, is in the same fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi, as five of the Judiciary Panel’s 10 members, one of whom is the chief justice and another who is the clerk of court.

The official start date for USG campaigns is Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. A video posted to Facebook Wednesday night by Post included a link to a website where donations could be made to Post and his running mate, Todd, to support their “mission,” although the post and video never explicitly mentions USG, the presidential campaign, or voting.

Post’s campaign manager, Matt Barnett, a fourth-year in finance, has maintained that this is in accordance with USG campaigning bylaws, and that campaigns can call for “assistance” in campaigning at any time, provided they do not explicitly solicit votes. He confirmed to The Lantern that the donations would go to the presidential campaign.

As of Thursday afternoon, no brief disputing the Facebook post, video and fundraising page had been filed. However, Barnett acknowledged that the likelihood of the issue going to the judicial panel is high.

According to the standing rules of USG’s Judicial Panel, “Any Justice who exhibits a conflict of interest may recuse him or herself or may be forcibly recused by the Chief Justice.”

Connor Greenwood, chief justice and a third-year in political science and international studies, said in a statement that the Judicial Panel was aware of his fraternity brother’s fundraising strategy, and cited the same bylaw that Barnett cited when arguing that the move was allowed. Greenwood declined to elaborate on his and other members of the Judicial Panel’s ties to Post through Delta Sigma Phi, saying only that, “The Judicial Panel is committed to maintaining a fair election and campaign season for all students.”

Update 2/16: This article has been updated to reflect that five of the 10 members of the Judicial Panel are members of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.

25 comments

Oh shocker! A USG presidential candidate is going to get special treatment AGAIN. Also, I love how their campaign manager, Matt is also in Delta Sig with Stephen and the four other justices. This is ridiculous! They’re literally telling the JP what to say. Hell, they probably got their blessing before the broke the rules!

According to the “Standing Rules of the Judicial Branch” document located on the USG website as the governing document of the USG Judicial Panel.

Section II, Subsection i, Subsection B states:
“Any Justice who exhibits a conflict of interest may recuse him or herself or may be forcibly
recused by the Chief Justice.”

Ironically the Chief Justice also should recuse himself for being directly linked to Stephen Post.

This isn’t being rude or downright disrespectful on the commentator’s part, its rude and disrespectful for the Justices and Stephen Post/Lauren Todd to allow this kind of corruption to occur and be used to facilitate an advantage in a USG campaign.

Definitely a joke, man. Obviously Gerard and the entire GA are not in Delta Sig. The point being this fraternity doesn’t have some kind of overwhelming, corrupt control over USG or the JP like this article seems to insinuate.

No just one members running for president, half of Members of the JP, a member of senior staff, at least GA senators, and countless deputy directors and cabinet members. But no, you’re definitely right.

If anything, it’s clear that there are a lot of students upset about this. It would serve in the USG Judicial Panel’s favor to make a public comment about this.

On a related note, most people don’t care about USG. This scandal is probably one of the few things that students will remember. If one of the frat bros who is on the panel puts USG on their resume for the future, this “scandal” will pop up with their name on it. As a business owner, a student with something like this in their history will be on the bottom of my hiring list. Honestly, even if they weren’t explicitly breaking any bylaws, it seems to me like people just aren’t thinking ahead.

In what world would an actual business care about this right here? Spencer, do us all a favor and focus on running your campaign. Enough with the fake comments. Also what business “owner” would feel the need to comment on a student newspaper article at 12:24 in the morning…

What the Delta Sigs won’t tell you is that he was picked as their house manager and resigned like 2 months in, leaving their house in chaos, for being depressed or something. Not something I really want in a leader of USG.

Charlotte, I don’t presume to know your mother or her style of parenting, but I do know one thing: she should be ashamed to have raised such a vile, despicable human being. What kind of person sincerely believes one should judge another’s character, values, and leadership abilities based off a mental illness? “…for being depressed or something.” Or something? Really Charlotte? Are you chalking depression up to just be some make believe figment of a lunatic’s deranged mind? There is absolutely NO reason Stephen should not be considered for this position because of a disorder that affects more than 40 million people in the United States alone. I cannot truly believe you mean what you are saying. You should rethink your rationale and give a sincere and thought out apology to the Undergraduate Student Government, the 40 million people suffering from depression in the US, Delta Sigma Phi, and Stephen Post himself for your RIDICULOUS comment.